Road Work Due to Begin in May

TROY HEIE

City crews are scheduled to begin work in May to complete the final phase of a nine-year traffic project on Moorpark Road where it meets the Ventura Freeway.

Construction on the $1.6-million project will run through November and will include widening Moorpark Road to three lanes in each direction under the freeway and adding pedestrian and bicycle lanes under the Ventura Freeway bridge, said Manuel Alvarez, Thousand Oaks associate civil engineer.

A public meeting to discuss the project will be held at 6 p.m. Monday in City Council chambers at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd.

Other facets of the project include repaving Moorpark Road from Rolling Oaks Drive to Thousand Oaks Boulevard and replacing about 600 feet of a 12-inch city sewer line.

"It needed to be replaced sometime, so we're doing it while we're there," Alvarez said.

The traffic median along Moorpark Road between Rolling Oaks Drive and Thousand Oaks Boulevard also will be improved, and traffic signals near the entrances and exits to and from the freeway will be modified to enhance traffic flows, Alvarez said.

The California Department of Transportation also will get involved in the project. It will widen the Moorpark Road southbound onramp and offramp and widen the northbound onramp.

The project is scheduled to be completed before the Christmas season.

"That's when we have the highest traffic levels at the intersection, because everyone is doing their holiday shopping in that area," Alvarez said.

Motorists can expect minor delays during the seven-month project, according to Alvarez. Caltrans may sporadically shut down freeway onramps and offramps, but only for several hours at a time, he said.